Five and Dive

Casey said:
Any GI Bill education benefits an Academy grad is eligible for, they earned by staying in after their initial ADSO. We aren’t eligible for 100% of those benefits until an additional 3 years past our initial commitment. This coincidentally times about right at when folks can get out before their O4 looks, right about the same time that the Army still needs a bunch of O3s to fill various roles but then needs to start dwindling the force.
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Thank you for the clarification.

My DS is in the thick of that additional three year commitment. He has no specific desire to leave at the end, but he is definitely brushing up his GRE/GMAT skillz and scouting graduate schools. There is no shortage of "those who've gone before" for him to bounce ideas off of.
 
My comment on being open to a career in the service applies to most jobs / careers on which you embark. If you go to med school, dental school or nursing school, I would hope that you're open to a career in those fields. Might not happen but it should at least be on the horizon. Ditto with law school (though quite a few law school grads don't end up practicing law). Or learning to become a race car driver or car mechanic.

It's your absolute right to enter a SA with the intent to stay only 5 years and then do something else. However, in most cases, your time in the military is not going to be very pleasant and you're not going to do as well.

The military via a SA is a huge commitment. It's 9+ years of your life at a time you've only lived 17-18. So it should be something you really want to do -- at least be open to the idea of doing it for a long time. MOST drop out on the way to 20 or 30 years (I'm one of them). That is normal, expected, and necessary. But I think you do yourself and the military a disservice by deciding before you even show up for I-Day that you have zero interest in making it a career. Just my opinion.
 
1. I would remind people that the commitment is currently 8 years, 5 years AD. More if you receive specialized training.
For anyone who thinks the 3 years in the reserves is just one weekend a month or serving in the IRR… some several hundred reserve and National Guard casualties in Iraq and Afghanistan might feel differently.
I assumed I would serve out my time in the National Guard “flying club” having fun on my days off. Yeah… finished a leg and on the way to my overnight I listened to a voice mail from my unit advising me that I was being mobilized for over a year.
Others found out about this thingy called “Stop Loss”.
2. Some SAs have experimented with a 6 year AD obligation. I’m not sure if those Cadets (Midshipmen?), have a 3 year or 2 year reserve obligation.
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